


The Wrong Side of Paradise

by Skaboom



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Destination Wedding, Fake Dating, Future Fic, Jealousy, M/M, Pining, There are some cliches, There is no homophobia, hijinks ensue, otlgiftexchange2020, there is some angst, there is some fluff, there is some funny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:54:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 18,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28257255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skaboom/pseuds/Skaboom
Summary: Set 10 years after the events of the series finale, Liam is a college professor living in Boston, putting space between himself and everything that happened in Beacon Hills. After feeling backed into a corner, he lies to his mother, saying that he is seeing someone and that it's serious enough that he is bringing them to his cousin's wedding in Hawaii. Time passes, and Liam fails to find a date. Pressed up against the ropes, Liam panics, begging Theo, who is still living in Beacon Hills, to pose as his date for the weekend. Theo begrudgingly agrees, but a secret that he has been keeping threatens to upend the entire weekend.
Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Comments: 22
Kudos: 81





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [songbvrd](https://archiveofourown.org/users/songbvrd/gifts).



> This is my gift for Songbvrd for the Official Thiam Library Holiday Gift Exchange! Happy Holidays! 
> 
> The prompts were pining, fake dating, and jealousy, I hope I did them alright!
> 
> Title is borrowed from the song Wilson (Expensive Mistakes) by Fall Out Boy.

_ I am dating someone! I am dating someone  _ so  _ hard, that I am bringing them to Michelle’s wedding! _ _   
_ _   
_ Even months later, the words played in Liam’s head again and again. He had felt backed into a corner, and with his parents sharing their concern for his post-Beacon Hills love life, he had panicked, and he had lied. He had had plenty of time, he had thought, to make it true. How hard could it be to find someone in Boston to date? Someone that he could get serious with enough to bring to his cousin’s wedding...in Hawaii?   
  
Easy enough, he had told himself, but he had tucked it away, and forgotten about it, until that afternoon, a week before the wedding, when his mother had called to tell him that the rooms were all booked, but Michelle needed the name of his date for the events and place cards.   
  
Liam had panicked, and hung up the phone, telling her that he had Mason on the other line and it was urgent...and then he had thrown his phone away from him like it was a poisonous snake, because oh, he had stepped into it now.    
  
He had only a few hours to dig up a date for his cousin’s wedding, or risk embarrassing himself in front of his entire family, and he didn’t know what to do.    
  
Truth be told, Liam hadn’t really dated since Hayden had left. It wasn’t that he was still wildly caught up on her or anything like that - in fact, they still talked regularly, and maintained a friendship. He wasn’t pining for her, or hoping for a future there. God, that would be insane. He was 26, it had been a full decade, there had just always been other things. First, a million things trying to kill him and his friends at every turn, and then college, and then grad school, and then by some miracle, a tenure track history position at a Boston college that he was only a year into, and he didn’t want to blow it.   
  
After all, it was tenure  _ track _ , not tenure  _ guarantee,  _ and so he had spent a lot of his time focusing on school, and keeping in touch with his friends, and as a result, pursuing any sort of romantic relationship had sort of fallen by the wayside. There had been one night stands, the occasional fling, but nothing lasting. No one that he could take to a family wedding, let alone a destination family wedding.   
  
With a sigh, Liam reached for his phone, scrolling through his contacts. He was only 26, how was it possible that everyone that he knew was coupled up? Hell, his best friend was already  _ married,  _ but Liam supposed that the bulk of his friends had been involved in the supernatural. They knew how short life could be, so it made sense in a way, but that didn’t change the fact that it left him with very few options.   
  
He was almost to the bottom of his contact list when a name caught his eye, someone he knew was still single, or at least not in anything serious.   
  
Theo Raeken.   
  
“No, thank you,” Liam said to himself. “I would rather die.”   
  
He continued to scroll, but by the time he reached the bottom of the contact list, there was really no one else that he knew well enough to take to Hawaii that was still on the market.   
  
It was Theo Raeken, or his entire family learning that he had lied, and worrying about him all weekend. While it wasn’t an easy choice, it wasn’t his wedding, it was Michelle’s, and he liked Michelle, and her fiancee, Grace. He didn’t want to start shit at their wedding.   
  
With a heavy sigh, he pressed call.    
  
“Are you dying?” Theo answered.   
  
“Well hello to you, too,” Liam said, rolling his eyes.    
  
“For real, though,” Theo said. “You never call.”   
  
To be fair, Theo was right. They kept in touch, and saw each other every time Liam was in town, but it was entirely over text, and the video chats the pack had.   
  
“Right, well, I was going to - fuck, nope, nevermind.”   
  
He moved to hang up, but Theo stopped him.    
  
“Well now you  _ have _ to tell me.”   
  
Liam could practically hear the smirk in Theo’s voice, and he wasn’t sure that he would ever get used to the fact, that even from 2000 miles away, he could still clearly picture that smirk on the 28 year old’s face, and it was infuriating.   
  
“I don’t have to do shit.”   
  
“Feisty today, aren’t we? I thought you had largely outgrown that.”   
  
Again, Theo was right. Liam had calmed down a lot since his high school days, but he was flustered now, and older habits were coming into play.   
  
“What can I say? You bring out the worst in me.”    
  
_ Wow, that is  _ not  _ something you say to someone you need a favor from… _   
  
“Why are you calling, Dunbar?”   
  
“I…” Liam sighed, tugging a hand through his hair. “I kind of need your help with something?”   
  
“Rival pack?”   
  
“Er, no…”   
  
“Wendigos?”   
  
“No, I-”   
  
“Hunters?”   
  
“A wedding.”   
  
“What, like a vampire bride situation?” Theo snorted.   
  
“No, my cousin’s wedding.” Liam felt pained even thinking about asking. “I need a date.”   
  
“Look, I know I meet a lot of women working as a bartender, but I can’t just like, blind date you with one for-”   
  
“Not a blind date, Theo.  _ You. _ ”   
  
There was a long pause on the line before Theo spoke again.   
  
“Dunbar, are you asking me out?”   
  
“What? No, no. God, no.” Liam sighed. “I mean, yes but not for real, I’m just...I sort of fucked up, and I told my mom that I was dating someone, and that I was bringing them to Michelle’s wedding, and I am very much not dating anyone, and I know she worries about me, and David does, too, and I just...don’t want that kind of attention at the wedding, so I need you to be my fake boyfriend. It’s just for a weekend.” He paused. “Next weekend.”   
  
“Liam, I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”   
  
“I would not be asking you if I weren’t desperate.”   
  
“Wow, way to make a guy feel special,” Theo said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.    
  
“Theo…”   
  
“Sorry, Liam. It’s not a good idea.”   
  
“Why not?”   
  
“It’s just not.”   
  
“ _ Why? _ ”   
  
“Because.”   
  
“Because  _ why? _ ”   
  
“Why are you like this?”   
  
“Theo, just please come to the fucking wedding with me. Aren’t we past this bullshit of pretending we aren’t friends? Friends have each other’s backs, and despite all of our nonsense, we have always been good at that part. The uh, the back...having...part.”   
  
“Wow, you’re really flustered over this, aren’t you?”   
  
Liam could hear the amusement in Theo’s tone, and he wanted to call him out, but he also needed Theo to say yes, so it seemed for the best to just...can it.   
  
“Please, Theo.”   
  
“What’s in it for me?”   
  
“A weekend in Hawaii?”   
  
“Hawaii? Liam, it’s a  _ destination _ wedding?”   
  
“Yes, but look, it’s just the weekend, okay? We’ll be flying out Friday, and flying back Monday, it’s really nothing at all.”   
  
“A weekend in Hawaii with your family breathing down our necks?”   
  
“Um, I mean, yes, but no one is going to be paying any attention to us. It’s Michelle and Grace’s weekend. The focus will be on them.”   
  
“If I do this,” Theo said. “I am gonna call you one day with a favor, and you are not gonna have any right to say no, you realize that, right?”   
  
“Yes, I totally get it,” Liam said quickly.    
  
“Okay.”   
  
“Okay?”   
  
“But you’re buying my plane ticket. You’re paying for everything.”   
  
“Yeah, yes, of course!” Liam nodded. “God, Theo, thank you so much! I will book you a ticket to Boston Thursday, and then we can fly out of here on Friday so we can arrive together. God, you really are saving my life. I’ll e-mail you your ticket. Pack sunscreen, bye!”   
  
“Liam, wait, I-”   
  
“Gotta go!” Liam hung up before Theo could change his mind, and sighed, flopping back on his bed.    
  
He opened up a text to Michelle.    
  
**Hey, Mich, mom said you wanted my date’s name - it’s Theo Raeken! Can’t wait to see you soon!** ****  
**  
** And as he watched the text send, seeing it in writing, he knew that he couldn’t take it back. This might be a bad idea, but at least it was better than the embarrassment that would come with his entire family knowing that he had made up a relationship.


	2. Chapter Two

“Fuck, it’s bright here,” Liam said as he and Theo deboarded the shuttle from the airport and walked up to the resort where the wedding would be taking place.   
  
“You’ve been in Massachusetts too long. The California Boy is being squeezed out of you,” Theo said, smirking as he donned a pair of sunglasses.   
  
“I am choosing to ignore that because you are doing me a massive favor by being here,” Liam said. “Come on, let’s check in to our room, and get settled before the beach barbecue dinner tonight.”   
  
“Sounds good.”   
  
Liam headed up to the desk. “Hi, Liam Dunbar and guest, checking in for the Dunbar/Miller wedding?”   
  
“Of course.” The woman behind the desk smiled brightly. “Everything’s all covered, here are your room keys, enjoy your weekend, gentlemen!”    
  
“Thanks.” Liam nodded, taking the room keys, looking at the paper packet holding them. “Room 211, alright, let’s head on up.”   
  
“This place is swanky as fuck,” Theo pointed out as they got in the elevator.    
  
“Yeah, well, Michelle always wanted a fun wedding in Hawaii, and Grace’s family has money for days, so combine those two things and here we are.”   
  
“Hey, I’m not complaining. This whole weekend is free for me. Just a fuuun vacation.”   
  
“Yeah…” Liam sighed.    
  
“Nervous?” Theo asked, nudging him.   
  
“What? No. Just tired. Not  _ all  _ of us can sleep for an entire plane flight.”   
  
“Sue me. I lived in a truck for a year. I can sleep anywhere.”   
  
“Okay, that’s...fair.”    
  
Liam felt oddly bad about his comment as he slipped the key card into the room, opening it to find a fairly nice room...and a single double bed.   
  
“Oh...fuck.” Liam dropped his suitcase, looking around the room for anything - a sofa, but there was nothing. It was a nice room, but it was lacking any other potential sleeping surface.    
  
“What did you think was gonna happen, Dunbar?” Theo asked, pushing past him and tossing his own suitcase onto the bed. “You told them you were bringing a date. It’s not the 50s, of course they were gonna book a single bed.”   
  
“So what...do we…”   
  
“This is your mess, not mine. The floor is all yours. I’m sure you can make a perfectly fine nest with blankets and pillows.” Theo flopped onto the bed, looking up at Liam. “You can’t exactly call down and ask for a different sleeping arrangement, so…”   
  
“Yeah, no, I know.” Liam sighed, starting to realize just how little he had actually thought this through.   
  
He walked over to the desk, where there was a welcome basket of snacks and drinks from Michelle and Grace. He pulled out the bottle of wine, and opened it, taking a swig right from it.   
  
“You can’t get drunk,” Theo pointed out.   
  
“I know,” Liam snapped. “It’s the gesture that works for me, not the actual effect.” He took another swig, then looked at Theo. “We should probably have come up with like, some basics.”   
  
“Just tell people the truth, that we met in high school, dealt with some shit together, and then a few years later, you called me out of the blue and begged me to date you.”   
  
“I hate you.”   
  
“It’s easier to lie when it’s close to the truth.”   
  
“Ugh.”   
  
“So you called me, begged me to date you, I caved, we’ve been doing the long distance thing. I’m contemplating moving to Boston, but in a couple of weeks, once we’re back home, you can tell them I couldn’t pull the trigger, so we broke up, because of the distance. It’s perfect.”   
  
“You thought about this in advance, didn’t you?” Liam asked, eyes narrowing.   
  
“The upsetting part is that you didn’t.”   
  
Once again, Theo was right. Liam had been so focused on just having a body there to claim as his own that he hadn’t really thought about any of the details, but Theo? He seemed cool as a cucumber. Then again, he had nothing to lose if this all went south, and Liam? He had his dignity on the line.   
  
“Relax,” Theo said finally. “We know each other well. It’s not like I’m some Craigslist stranger. This is gonna be fine, now come on, get changed. I want to see if there’s an entire roast pig. I’m fucking starving.”   
  
Saying nothing, Liam opened his suitcase, grabbing shorts and a t-shirt, and going to change in the bathroom. When he came out, Theo was dressed in pink shorts, a soft looking sky blue t-shirt and flip flops, looking like he was born for the Hawaiian beach, and Liam felt sort of dumb in his denim shorts and plain black t-shirt, but at least it would serve it’s purpose.    
  
“Come on, stud,” Theo said, slinging an arm around Liam. “Let’s hit the beach. Can’t wait to meet the fam.”   
  
“Am I going to regret this?” Liam asked, pulling away from Theo, and heading for the door.    
  
“Oh, probably,” Theo said. “But not because of me, okay? My sabotaging you days are over. I will be the best fake boyfriend you’ve ever had. You, on the other hand? I have the feeling that your days of self-sabotage are just beginning.”   
  
“Sometimes I question if you’re really my friend,” Liam stated as they headed down.   
  
“Wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.”   
  
And that?    
  
That, Liam couldn’t argue with.   
  
***   
  
“Theo!” Jenna practically rushed them the second they hit the barbecue. “When Liam admitted that it was you he was with, I can’t say I wasn’t shocked - I mean, you two were close in high school, and I knew you’d stayed in touch, but I had no idea it was-”   
  
“ _ Mom! _ ” Liam groaned.   
  
“Oh, sorry.” She pulled back. “Sorry, I had one of those coconut things, and I think they were a little heavy handed on the rum, pair that with a day of air travel, and I’m…”   
  
“Embarrassing?”    
  
“Aw, babe,” Theo put his arm back around Liam. “She’s just being supportive of us.”   
  
“Oh, I like him,” Jenna said with a smile.    
  
Yes, she knew certain things about the pack, and she knew they were both werewolves, but by the time Liam had told her everything, he and Theo were friends, and he felt no need to tell her about his villainous past, so she had no reason to doubt that Theo was anything other than good for her son.    
  
“It’s good to see you, Jenna,” Theo said with a smile. “Do you know where a guy could get a bite? I slept the whole flight, missed the snack service.”   
  
“Of course!” Jenna smiled. “Come on. Both of you.” She leaned in, kissing Liam on the cheek. “It’s good to see you, sweetheart.”   
  
“You too, mom,” Liam said, starting to relax a little. His mother would be the hardest to fool, she knew Liam better than anyone else here, but if she believed that he and Theo could be together, then he knew he didn’t have anything to worry about. Sure, she might be tipsy now, but Theo was laying it on just right, and if Liam just calmed down, he would be able to, also.   
  
It was just two days. They could get through it. After all, Theo was right. They knew each other well, and they would be able to sell this just from that. They were close, they had been in life or death situations together, and they had pulled each other through them, stepping up for each other more and more each time. This?   
  
This was just a wedding. There were no Ghost Riders, or hunters, or fear mongering demons. This, they could do. Maybe it was the Hawaiian sun, or Theo’s confidence rubbing off on him, but as they walked towards the massive buffet table, he felt himself starting to calm down.   
  
***   
  
“Ummmm, okay. Come with me.” Michelle grabbed Liam’s wrist just as he was finishing his first plate of food, tugging him away from the group a little.    
  
“Hello to you, too,” Liam laughed.    
  
“Yeah, okay, fine, good to see you too, whatever. Why did you not tell  _ anyone  _ you were dating a stone cold hottie?”   
  
“Oh.” Liam felt his ears growing hot. “I don’t know, it’s...complicated. Long distance, and...yeah, you know. I’m bad at...sharing my love life.”   
  
“I distinctly remember you being like, what, 15? 16? And sending me near daily texts about that girl Hayden.”   
  
“Exactly,” Liam said. “I was a dipshit teenager. I have since learned discretion.”   
  
“Well, I would say you over corrected, there, Liam. He’s hot.”   
  
“You’re a lesbian.”   
  
“I’m gay, Liam.” Michelle said. “Not blind!”   
  
“Fair enough.”   
  
“Anyways, everyone loves him.”   
  
“They do?”   
  
Liam knew that he shouldn’t be surprised by that. Theo was incredibly charismatic - he had been able to make an entire pack trust him (well, minus Stiles) even in the middle of a million dangers, so a handful of humans who had no reason to suspect anything? Of course he would have them all wrapped around his finger...and it wasn’t like the decade since high school had been unkind to Theo. He was 28 now, and a little more filled out, with stubble, and well kept hair, and yeah, okay, so  _ objectively  _ he was a good looking guy.   
  
You know, if you were into that tan, muscled, bad boy with a heart of gold look, which Liam most certainly was not.   
  
“Yes.” Michelle nudged him. “Who knows? Maybe you two will be next.”   
  
“Oh my god, we don’t even live in the same time zone, there’s...a lot of time before that’s even on the table.”   
  
“Well, regardless. You’re in Hawaii. There’s gonna be a DJ soon, hit the dance floor with that hottie and enjoy the weekend. It’s all about love. There are no problems here, it’s paradise, and I’m getting married!”   
  
“Yes, yes you are,” Liam laughed. “Now go on, get back to your party,” he said with a smile, starting to head back to the group.    
  
“So, what was that about?” Theo asked as Liam slid back into the chair next to him.    
  
“Apparently,” Liam smiled, wondering if maybe the sun was getting to him, though it was beginning to set now. “Everyone loves you.”   
  
“What can I say?” Theo said with a shrug. “I give good parent...and aunt, and uncle, and cousins.”   
  
“Hey,” Liam patted Theo’s thigh. “I’m gonna get a coke, you try not to enjoy this too much.”   
  
“Oh, don’t worry,” Theo said with a heavy sigh, watching Liam get up and walk away. “Believe me, I’m not.”


	3. Chapter Three

“Is there a thing this morning?” Theo yawned as he woke up, sitting up in the bed to find Liam already up and dressed for the day.   
  
“No.” Liam shook his head. “I mean, there’s like, not a breakfast or anything. The family is gonna chill at the beach I think, but it’s not a command performance or anything like that, and there’s no set time.”   
  
“Cool.” Theo nodded. “I’m gonna grab a shower and maybe some room service, and I’ll come hang with y’all after a bit? You can tell your family I’m sleeping in?”    
  
“Yeah, sounds good.” Liam nodded, grabbing one of the beach towels that had been provided, and slinging it over his shoulder. “Although I’m sure everyone will lament your absence. After last night, I’m pretty sure they all like you better than they like me,” he teased.    
  
“Ha,” Theo rolled his eyes. “They’re your family, Liam. They love you, and they won’t miss me at all, and besides, I’ll be down soon!”   
  
“Alright, well, enjoy your lazy morning, I’ll see you later.”    
  
Liam grabbed his things and walked out the door, leaving Theo to come to the surface a little more. He reached for the phone and ordered a simple breakfast and coffee from room service, figuring that he couldn’t take too much time before going down to join the group, but he needed a little room to breathe.    
  
Last night had been fine, the food had been great, and Liam’s family had welcomed him with open arms, but at the same time, it was strange, putting his arm around Liam and acting like they were boyfriends, dancing in the sand like any couple would. Theo had never been anyone’s boyfriend. By the time that he had been old enough to start dating, he had been under the full control of the Dread Doctors, and then after that had broken?   
  
Well, things had been confusing for him,  _ people _ had been confusing for him, and no one that he had gone out with had lasted long enough for them to hit the exclusive partners stage, and thus, Theo had never been anyone’s boyfriend, fake or otherwise.    
  
He knew that he exuded confidence, he always had, but this was different, and he needed a little time to gather his thoughts, and get back in the mindset that he had been in last night, where pretending to be Liam’s boyfriend was easy...and in a lot of ways, it was. He hadn’t been lying when he said that they knew each other well, and that they could play off of that. There had always been something different between him and Liam, an understanding that, even once the rest of the pack had finally warmed up to him, had remained special between them.    
  
Whether it was spoken between them or not, Theo was Liam’s anchor, and on top of that Liam had always had a way of bringing out the humanity in Theo, even when he had thought that humanity was gone. It should be easy, the two of them of them pretending to be lovers for a weekend, because they were connected in ways that humans could never hope to understand, and he was sure that would show in  _ some  _ way. It should have been easy - and it would have been - if Theo weren’t completely and hopelessly in love with Liam.   
  
It was one of those things that was easier to keep back in his mind than it was to think about, and he certainly had no plans to act on it. For one thing, Liam’s life was in Boston, now, and Theo’s in California, and for another? Theo had weighed all potential outcomes again and again, and only one ended in anything short of a complete disaster. Liam couldn’t lose his anchor, and Theo couldn’t lose his strongest tie to humanity, so at the end of the day, it was best to keep this tucked away.    
  
He got up to get the door when his room service arrived, and finished waking up with his cup of coffee and his breakfast, before hitting the showers, and dressing. He knew that he couldn’t stay up here all day, because he was expected with Liam’s family. He was expected as Liam’s boyfriend, and he could do this. While he would never admit it, Liam had done so much for him, and if he could help Liam in this one, small way, he could do it. After all, Liam didn’t know how different it was for Theo, and he couldn’t tell him. He was just glad that Liam hadn’t pushed back about sharing the bed at all.   
  
Theo didn’t think that he would have been able to handle that.   
  
***   
  
By the time that Theo got down to the beach, wearing board shorts and a sleeveless shirt along with sunglasses and flip flops, it seemed as though most of the wedding party was there, and playing in the Hawaiian sun. Some of them were building sandcastles, some of them were lounging about working on a tan and drinking various cocktails and mocktails offered by the resort, and some of them, Liam included, were playing in the water.    
  
Theo unrolled a beach towel and sat down on it, watching as Liam splashed in the shallows with two of the younger members of his family - a boy and a girl, who couldn’t be more than four and seven. It was cute, probably, the way that Liam was playing with the kids, but Theo? He wasn’t really a kids person, so he wasn’t going to let that get to him.    
  
He did, however, laugh as a wave came in, and Liam fell over very dramatically, clearly pretending to have been caught off guard by the small surf.    
  
“So, how long have you been in love with him?”   
  
Theo turned to see Michelle parking herself next to his beach towel.    
  
Fantastic.    
  
“Oh.” Theo shrugged, smiling. After all, he didn’t have to lie this time. They were selling it like everything was true, and Theo? He had experience here. “I don’t know, exactly, I guess, but…” he paused, watching as Liam, soaking wet, laughed while the two children attempted to pull him up from the sand and waves. “A long time.”   
  
“It shows.” Michelle nudged him. “I can’t believe he had you tucked away for so long, you’re clearly very good for him - I mean, look how happy he is.”   
  
“That’s the beach, he just needed a vacation,” Theo said.    
  
“Yeah, a vacation with  _ you _ ,” she teased, completely unaware of how differently her words were hitting Theo than intended. “Now come on, Liam wouldn’t spill, tell me about your love story.”   
  
“Oh god.” Theo chuckled, shaking his head. “No, no.”   
  
“Come on.” She nudged him again. “I’m starved for romance,” she added dramatically.    
  
“It’s literally your wedding weekend, and you’re starved for romance? That’s rough,” Theo said, though he was teasing her right back. He wasn’t sure why Liam’s family was so comfortable for him, but they just were.   
  
“Oh hush.” She kicked a little sand at his feet. “Just tell me a little. I mean, some digging says you’ve known each other since high school, but you just got together recently? What gives? Did you _ know  _ back in high school?”   
  
“Just...timing.” He shrugged again. “I didn’t know, I had...some family problems growing up, and Liam and I didn’t always get along, you know, but when shit was really bad, he was there. I just had a lot of growing up I had to do, and I think maybe he did, too.”   
  
“Makes sense.” Michelle nodded. “Well, I’m glad you’ve found each other now. It’s nice to see him with someone again, it’s been a long time. He’s grown up really well, but it’s felt like something has been missing for awhile, and I think that something is you.”   
  
“Yeah?” Theo smiled, because he knew that it was the right move, and lying and charming? He could still do that, even when he had his own feelings involved. He just had to make sure that he didn’t let Michelle’s words go to his head. He couldn’t let himself start thinking that any of this was real, or it would all be so much more difficult.   
  
“Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, I visited him in Boston not too long ago, and he’s just...different here with you. It’s better.”   
  
“Well, glad I could be of service,” Theo said, not knowing what else to say. After all, they were just faking it. It was probably merely the vacation, the break from work, and being around his family that had Liam glowing.   
  
But he was glowing. Theo couldn’t help but notice it as Liam cackled, pulling the two children into the water with him, clearly his plan all along.    
  
“You’d better go intervene before those kids take him out,” Michelle said.    
  
“Oh, I don’t know about that.”   
  
“Go have fun with your boyfriend, Theo,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Who knows how long it’ll be before you’re both in Hawaii together again?”   
  
“Alright, alright, I’m going.” Theo got up, pulling off his tank top and sliding out of his flop flops, heading towards the water.    
  
“Theo, help!” Liam laughed as the children crawled all over him in the water, pinning him down in the sand.    
  
“Oh, need some rescuing, do you?”   
  
“YES!” Liam grinned.    
  
“Okay.” Theo moved closer, reaching his hand down to help him up, but instead, splashed him right in the face with some salty water.    
  
“Ooof.” Liam sputtered, shaking the water from his hair and eyes. “Some help you are.”   
  
“What can I say?” he asked, finally taking Liam’s arm and helping him to his feet. “Couldn’t help myself.”    
  
A smirk made its way onto Theo’s face, and he grabbed Liam, hoisting the slightly smaller man over his shoulder. “What do you say kids?” he asked. “Shall we go bury cousin Liam in the sand?”   
  
The children cheered, prancing around Theo as he carried Liam away from the ocean.    
  
“Oh god! Traitor!” Liam laughed, half-heartedly struggling against Theo, showing no real signs of objection.    
  
“Hey,” Theo said, gently setting Liam down on the ground, standing over him while the kids ran to get shovels. “You know me.”   
  
“Yeah.” Liam grinned up at him. “And I know you’re not like that anymore.”   
  
“Maybe not.” Theo shrugged. “I’m still gonna help those kids bury you, though.”   
  
“I assumed.” Liam made no move to get up from the sand.    
  
“Ready, kids?” Theo asked, turning to his army of two. “Let’s get him!”


	4. Chapter Four

“Oh  _ my  _ god, I am going to be finding sand all over for the rest of my life,” Liam complained as they returned to their room to have a little down time and get rested before the rehearsal dinner.    
  
“Hey, not my problem,” Theo said, though he was fairly sandy himself.    
  
“Dibs on the shower!” Liam said, practically making a beeline for the bathroom.    
  
It had been fun, letting the kids and Theo bury him in the sand, but now that he was free, he felt like he needed about 10 showers to feel human again. Right now, he was just a sand monster, and while that was all well and good on the beach, it was less fun in the hotel room, and would be even less fun at the rehearsal dinner.   
  
As he let the warm water wash over him, and at least attempt to get all of the sand out of his hair, he couldn’t help but think about how surprising it was that Theo was  _ so  _ good with his family. Sure, he had always known Theo to be a charmer, that wasn’t news, but he had never seen Theo interact so flawlessly with so many people. It seemed natural, and honestly, Liam could see why not a damn person was questioning their relationship.    
  
Theo was right, he was the best fake boyfriend Liam had ever had, and Liam wasn’t sure how he had gotten that way. Then again, there were a million things about Theo that Liam didn’t understand, and he had accepted that long ago. Theo Raeken was a mystery, but a mystery that Liam liked being around, and he had to admit, as much of a pain in the ass as the guy could be, it was nice to have a friend here.   
  
***   
  
“Um, that’s my bed,” Theo said as he came out of the shower, a towel wrapped around his waist, to find Liam lounging around the bed.    
  
“Put some clothes on,” Liam said, rolling his eyes, and feeling absolutely no need to get off of the bed.    
  
Theo laughed, and grabbed some clothes, taking them back into the bathroom and putting them on. He emerged once again toweling his hair and sitting down on the bed.    
  
“We have some time before the rehearsal dinner,” Liam said, looking up from his phone.   
  
“Good, good.” Theo nodded. “I could use a little downtime. Too much sun.”   
  
“Yeah, I’m with you there,” he paused. “But hey, you were really great with the kids earlier,” Liam said with a smile. “I mean, even if you were all ganging up on me.”   
  
“What can I say?” Theo said with a shrug. “You’re easy to gang up on.”   
  
“Well, I was  _ going  _ to say thank you, but if that’s how you’re going to be about it…” Liam nudged him teasingly, and Theo nearly fell off the bed.    
  
“Oh, it’s on!”   
  
Theo jumped at Liam, and Liam squealed.    
  
“OH GOD! NO! NOT THIS AGAIN! HELP HELP!” He cried, pushing Theo off of him with relative ease, as Theo wasn’t exactly trying hard, and Liam was surprisingly strong for his size.   
  
“Oh, you baby,” Theo rolled his eyes, settling back down to sit on the bed.    
  
“I spent the whole day getting ganged up on!” Liam laughed.   
  
“And you loved it,” Theo pointed out.   
  
“Yeah...maybe.” Liam shrugged.   
  
But it had been nice, playing in the sand with his family, and yes, with Theo. He would never have pegged Theo at being good with kids, but as it turned out, he had been fantastic with them. Liam’s little cousins had been just as all over Theo by the end of the beach time as they had been Liam, and Liam couldn’t help but think that Theo was absolutely nailing this fake boyfriend thing.   
  
Clearly, he had been the right person to call, despite all of Liam’s reservations.   
  
“So, rehearsal dinner?”   
  
“Yeah, I mean, we aren’t actually rehearsing the wedding, that’s just a small beach ceremony tomorrow afternoon that they’ve sort of already worked out, but they have rented one of the banquet rooms in the resort for tonight, so everyone’s gonna get a little bit dressed up, and have a nice meal.” He shrugged. “It’s probably the most formal part of the wedding, honestly.”   
  
“Got it, so tonight is for the slacks and blazer that I brought?”   
  
“Yeah.” Liam nodded. “Tomorrow’s more casual. I mean, don’t go wearing like, a muscle tank, and board shorts or anything, but jeans and a button up will be good.”   
  
“Alright, cool. Got it.” Theo nodded. He reached for the TV remote, and switched around a little before settling on a workplace comedy.   
  
Liam watched Theo out of the corner of his eye as they both leaned back against the headboard of the bed.   
  
“Are you having a good time?” Liam asked after several minutes.   
  
“What do you mean?”   
  
“Like, here, in Hawaii, are you having fun?”   
  
“Yeah, Liam,” Theo rolled his eyes. “I’m having fun.”   
  
“Good.” Liam nodded. “I mean, it would be a shame if you didn’t enjoy your free vacation, after all.”   
  
“Well, I’m enjoying it, so we’re good.”   
  
Theo said that he was having fun, but as Liam studied him, he couldn’t help but feel like something was off. He wasn’t lying, not about having a good time, Liam would have been able to hear the lie in Theo’s usually steady heartbeat, but there was no lie. Still, he knew Theo so well, and something seemed off, Liam just couldn’t put his finger on it.   
  
It had been some time since they had been in the same place, actually seen each other and hung out, before leaving for the wedding, and Liam wondered if maybe there was something that he had missed, something that the whole pack had missed. After all, they often hung out in a group, and the last time they had been together, it had been in that group setting. Liam and Theo hadn’t taken any one on one time together, and Liam just wasn’t sure what was going on.   
  
There had always been layers and layers of Theo that had been mysterious, pieces of him that Liam was sure that he would never be able to understand, no matter how hard he tried, but he did his best. He kept his head down, and he talked to him, but not too much. He didn’t want to push Theo, because despite everything that had happened, every way that Theo had improved, Liam had always worried that Theo was just one push away from snapping.   
  
“What?” Theo asked, brow furrowed as he looked at Liam.   
  
“Nothing.” Liam shook his head.   
  
“You’re looking at me funny.”   
  
“I am not,” Liam challenged.   
  
“Mmmm.” Theo nodded. “Well, maybe it’s just that you’re funny looking, then.”   
  
That broke Liam out of the contemplative state that he had been in, and he reached for a pillow, swatting at Theo with it.   
  
It was funny, how they were both adults - Liam was 26, Theo was 28, and yet when they were together, alone, they could be reduced to the most ridiculous of teenagers. The stakes of the world had been so high when they had met that they had never really gotten to play, to mess around like normal kids. Liam knew that Theo had  _ never  _ gotten to mess around like a normal kid, so maybe it was a good thing that he could do so now, as an adult.   
  
“Mature,” Liam snorted with laughter.   
  
“Don’t you know it.”    
  
Theo nudged Liam with his shoulder, and Liam nudged him back, before they both settled back in to watch the show.    
  
Liam barely noticed Theo yawning, and didn’t realize the other man was asleep at all until Theo’s head lolled onto his shoulder. Liam was surprised by the extra weight, and turned, looking to see him. Theo was fast asleep, his eyes closed, still sitting up, though now, rather than being braced against the wide headboard of the bed, he was slumped against Liam.    
  
For a moment, Liam debated moving him, thought about easing Theo down so that he was in a more comfortable position, but Theo had mentioned earlier that he could sleep anywhere, and Liam didn’t feel the need to run the risk of waking him up and dealing with a grumpy Theo Raeken. That was simply a recipe for disaster.    
  
Liam knew that Theo wasn’t the man that he had once been - controlled by evil forces, selfish beyond belief, and willing to do just about anything to get what he wanted, but Liam wasn’t sure that he had ever seen Theo as peaceful as he was right now. This was not the first time that Liam had seen Theo sleep, but even just from the plane ride to now, it seemed different. He sensed zero guard up around the other man, and that, Liam felt, was a first.    
  
Liam turned back to the TV, settling in, content to just let Theo sleep on him. After all, Theo was doing him an incredible favor by even being here at all, and Liam could have been the asshole and jolted him from his sleep as a joke, but there was just something about the way that Theo looked right now that told Liam he should do just about anything but.   



	5. Chapter Five

“Hey, Theo.”   
  
Theo woke to Liam gently shaking him, and he started awake.    
  
“Huh?”   
  
“Hey.” Liam smiled down at him. “Sorry to wake you up, but it’s time to get ready for the dinner.”   
  
“Oh, shit.” Theo yawned, stretching, as he looked at Liam, who seemed to already be well on his way towards ready for the event. “Sorry.”   
  
“It’s fine,” Liam shrugged. “I let you sleep as long as I could, but I figured you would want to have enough time to get presentable.”   
  
“Yeah, thanks.” Theo slowly got off the bed, yawning again, as he headed over to his suitcase to pull out the right clothes.   
  
He hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but he had become an expert at falling asleep wherever, so it wasn’t really that surprising. At least Liam had woken him up with enough time to spend some of it focusing on getting dressed. This may all have been fake, but he didn’t ever want to look stupid in front of Liam’s family.   
  
As he took his slacks, shirt, and blazer into the bathroom to get cleaned up and dressed, he couldn’t help but think about how much he wanted Liam’s family to like him. He had known Liam’s mother and stepfather, at least peripherally, for awhile, but the rest of Liam’s family was new to him, and he couldn’t help but think about how great they all were, and about how maybe, if he hadn’t been so susceptible to The Dread Doctors’ control, he might have been able to have something like this of his own.   
  
Maybe this would be Tara’s wedding, and maybe Theo would be at it with a date - a real date, someone that he was able to share his life with and open up to. Instead, the closest thing that he had to that was Liam, a friend by circumstance less so than choice, who had no idea how much Theo really cared about him, because Theo didn’t have the emotional range to know how to tell him.   
  
And because he was afraid of how things would change if he told Liam the full truth.   
  
As he smoothed down his dark blue jacket over the light blue shirt, and looked at himself in the mirror, he wished that this sort of thing was easier. He was good looking, and he knew that he could charm the pants off of just about anyone, but that didn’t change the fact that something was wrong with him. He had been broken too many times to know how to be human, and now, more than ever, he felt like a wolf in sheep’s clothing - putting on these nice things to go out into a sea of humans, and pretend that he was one of them, when in reality, sometimes, Theo didn’t even know what he was.   
  
“Hey, are you okay?” Liam asked, frowning as Theo exited the bathroom.   
  
“Just waking up from my nap,” Theo said.   
  
Liam didn’t let him get away with much, and so usually, Theo tried to find a way to lie to him without actually lying - he would tell the truth, but only part of it, because he knew that Liam listened to his heartbeat, and he could fool Stiles, he could fool Corey, and many of the others, but he simply couldn’t fool Liam. It was harder for him to control his heartbeat around Liam, because it was harder for him to control himself in general around Liam.    
  
“Alright, well, we should probably head down, we don’t want to be late.”   
  
“Yeah.” Theo put a smile on his face, and headed out the door with Liam.   
  
“THEO!” The kids ran up to him practically the second he walked into the banquet hall, and Theo couldn’t help but smile.    
  
The little boy, Clark, affixed himself to Theo’s leg, delighting in the game as Theo took a few steps with Clark clinging to him like a koala bear.    
  
“Do you want me to get them off of you?” Kevin, Michelle’s older brother, and father to the two children, looked at Theo with a smile.   
  
“No, it’s fine, it’s - oof!” He laughed as Clark’s sister, Alexa, grabbed his other leg. She was older, and thus bigger, but Theo was strong, and he found that he didn’t mind at all.   
  
“You sure?” Kevin asked, still smiling as he raised an eyebrow.   
  
“I’m sure.” Theo nodded, making a big deal of taking another step.   
  
He was strong, it would have been absolutely no hardship at all for him to move forwards with both children attached to him, but it was fun pretending. It was fun to act that this was his life, that these people were his family. Just for one more day, he had something real, something good, so why not let himself enjoy it?    
  
“I’ll get you a drink,” Kevin said, patting Theo on the shoulder before heading off to the drinks table.    
  
“Aren’t you the charmer.” Liam nudged Theo, and Theo leaned over, kissing Liam on the cheek.   
  
“What was that for?” Liam asked, slightly taken aback.   
  
They had held hands, and sat close together, arms around each other, but this was the first time that Theo had kissed Liam in any capacity, and they hadn’t really talked about limits or boundaries.   
  
“I’m your boyfriend, doofus,” Theo said, attempting to save face. After all, he hadn’t really meant to kiss Liam. It had just seemed like the right move to make.   
  
It was what he would have done if Liam were actually his boyfriend, and he knew that he had to stop himself. He couldn’t let himself get to a place where he believed that this was real, but at the same time, he felt more at home, at this resort, worlds away from his life back home, than he had ever felt before, and selfishly, he wanted to cling to that.   
  
“Fair point.” Liam smiled, leaning in a little closer to Theo.    
  
“Think I can make it all the way to the appetizer table with these two big ankle weights?” Theo asked, pulling away. He didn’t trust himself being this close to Liam right now. He had already acted impulsively once, and he needed to get his head out of this.   
  
As good as it felt, this wasn’t real. This wasn’t his family. This wasn’t his life. It was just a costume that he was putting on for a weekend, and come Monday afternoon, he would go back to being Theo Raeken, Beacon Hills Bartender, with a pack, but no real family.   
  
He could handle that. He had been handling it for the last ten years. One weekend wasn’t going to bring it all up in flames.   
  
“I don’t know,” Liam said. “They look preeeetty heavy…”   
  
Clark and Alexa giggled, and tightened their grip around Theo’s legs, preparing for the challenge.   
  
“I think it can be done,” Theo said. “Here we go!”   
  
He started walking, again making exaggerated movements, letting the kids think that they were slowing him down much more than they actually were. After all, they were little, and he was large, and supernatural, but at the same time, it was fun.   
  
It had nothing to do with the look of utter joy on Liam’s face as he watched them.   
  
Except that it had everything to do with that.    
  
“SUCCESS!” Theo laughed as he reached the appetizer table, grabbing a plate.    
  
Breathless from laughing, Alexa and Clark finally released Theo’s legs and scampered off to go harass another member of the family, and Theo started piling food on his plate.    
  
“You know,” Liam said, sliding in next to Theo, putting food on his own plate. “I would never have pegged you as someone who was good with kids.”   
  
“Yeah, honestly?” Theo shrugged. “Me neither, but I guess kids aren’t as complicated as I thought. You just toss them around a little and they’re happy...and then you give them back to their parents when they start to fuss.”   
  
“Do you want kids someday?” Liam asked, taking his plate to the table and sitting down, Theo following behind him.    
  
“Oh, god.” Theo shook his head. “I don’t think so.”   
  
“Pity. It seems like you’d be a good dad.”   
  
“Ha. For me, the ‘giving them back to their parents when they start to fuss’ is sort of crucial.”   
  
Theo turned to focus on his food so that he didn’t have to respond to that, because he was sure that he wouldn’t be a good dad. How could he? He could barely take care of himself most of the time, how was he gonna take care of kids? And who was he gonna find to have or adopt kids with him, anyways? He was so gone for Liam that he couldn’t even think about being with anyone else, and at the same time, he knew that he didn’t have a chance there.   
  
If Liam felt the same way that he did, he wouldn’t be here right now, pretending to be his date, he was sure of it. One of them would have said something, or Liam wouldn’t have been stupid enough to put them in this position, because Liam was a lot of things, but Theo was pretty sure that stupid wasn’t one of them.   
  
Well, at least not most of the time.   
  
“Fair enough,” Liam said with a laugh. “Honestly, I love Clark and Alexa, but I have no idea what I would do with any of my own.”   
  
Theo nodded, feeling, honestly, the same way.    
  
Luckily, before he had to respond to it, people started sitting down around them, the dinner starting to really get going, and he was able to converse with others, and not talk about kids with his fake boyfriend.   
  
His fake boyfriend, whom he had real feelings for.


	6. Chapter Six

“Hey, Liam?”    
  
Theo removed his blazer as they returned to their room, and tossed it over the back of the desk chair before toeing off his shoes and flopping down on the bed.    
  
“Yeah?” Liam followed suit, grabbing a bottle of water from the mini fridge before settling in next to Theo on the bed.    
  
“Why are you single? I mean,” he shrugged. “Why don’t you have an actual date to this wedding?”   
  
“I don’t know,” Liam said, rolling his eyes. “Probably because I’m funny looking.”   
  
“Okay, no. Dude, I’m being serious. You’re a good guy, and you’re smart, and you’re interesting, and I guess you’re not  _ that  _ funny looking…I mean, way worse people than you have found love. Seems like it shouldn’t be that hard for a guy like you.”   
  
“Thank you, I think?” Liam looked at Theo, mystified by what the other man had said.    
  
It felt both complementary, and not, to the young man, and he couldn’t quite tell what Theo was trying to convey. Yes, he knew Theo well, but there was just so much he didn’t have nailed down about the other man.    
  
“You’re welcome.” Theo rolled his eyes. “Now come on, answer the question, Dunbar.”   
  
“I don’t know.” Liam shrugged. “I guess I just haven’t felt like I’ve had the time. There were monsters, and then school, and then grad school, and now teaching, and it’s a lot of work, and a lot of time, and meeting people is harder than it should be. Come on, what about you? Why are you still single? You’re a bartender with muscles.”   
  
“Well,” Theo chuckled. “The kind of people I meet at the bar aren’t the kind of people I want to be meeting, I guess.”   
  
“Come on,” Liam pushed. “You made me give a real answer.”   
  
“If I told you to let it go, you wouldn’t, am I right about that?” Theo asked.    
  
“Absolutely.” Liam nodded.    
  
Theo had asked him, and now Liam wanted his own answer. He knew that there was more to it than Theo had already said, because he just  _ knew _ Theo, and in the entire time he had known him, Theo had never mentioned a girlfriend...or boyfriend. He had casually mentioned one night stands and hookups, but that was it, and Liam didn’t get it. Theo was charming, charismatic, and yeah,  _ objectively  _ totally hot. There was no reason, Liam felt, for him to be single unless he  _ wanted  _ to be.   
  
“I’m just…” Theo sighed. “I don’t know, Dunbar. I’m not a whole person.”   
  
“What does that mean?” Liam frowned, trying to parse Theo’s words, and failing to understand what they could possibly mean.    
  
“I know we all went through it in high school, and for a little while after, but I was in that life, Liam. I spent  _ years _ as little more than a puppet for The Dread Doctors. I wasn’t a person, I was a pawn, and when you brought me back and broke the tie that I had to them,” he shrugged. “I don’t know. I never really felt like any more of me came back. I was still just... _ pieces _ , and yeah, over the years I’ve been putting some of those pieces together, but I still don’t feel like a whole person.” He paused. “I don’t think that I ever will. I’m missing a childhood, and it’s not that I had a bad one, I just...didn’t  _ have _ one. I’m…” Theo paused again. “It’s stupid.”   
  
“No, say it.” Liam instinctively moved closer to Theo on the bed, his eyes glued to the other man.   
  
He knew that Theo had been through some shit, but they hadn’t really ever talked about his time with the Dread Doctors. Liam knew that they had hurt him, that they had abused him when he was just a kid, and done a significant amount of damage, but he hadn’t ever thought about how badly it was still impacting Theo.   
  
“Really, Liam, it’s fine.”   
  
Except it wasn’t, it so clearly wasn’t, and Liam wanted to know. They had come too far, they had progressed too deep into this conversation for Liam to turn back. He knew that he should, that he shouldn’t push Theo, because he knew that he could possibly make things worse - and knowing his luck, he would, but curiosity was winning out. He had to know.    
  
“It’s clearly not,” Liam said. “I answered the question. It’s your turn.”   
  
“Fine,” he said. “They broke me, and I’m still broken. Is that what you wanted to hear?” Theo stood, grabbing his flip flops and angrily shoving them on his feet.    
  
“What? No.” Liam frowned. “That’s not- I mean, I wanted you to be honest, but I don’t  _ relish  _ in knowing you’re broken! How-”   
  
Theo headed for the door.    
  
“Theo, where are you going?” Liam got off the bed, following him.    
  
“I’m going for a walk.”   
  
“Okay.” Liam grabbed his own sandals and ran out the door, hopping down the hallway one foot at a time as he attempted to put them on. “Theo, wait!”   
  
“What?” Theo turned around.    
  
“I’m coming with you.”   
  
“Liam…” Theo sighed.    
  
“You aren’t talking me out of this.”   
  
“Fine.”   
  
Liam said nothing, he just fixed his shoes, and followed after his friend.   
  
After all, Liam’s family were staying in the rooms around them. If they had it out in the hallway, the entire wedding party except for the brides to be, who were in the bridal suite, would hear, and Liam didn’t want to put either of them through that. He didn’t want to cause drama before the wedding, or pull focus from Michelle and Grace. The whole point of bringing a fake boyfriend to the wedding was to keep himself from being the focal point of drama. He wasn’t about to ruin it now, but he also wasn’t about to let Theo walk away from him in the middle of a conversation like this.   
  
Neither of them spoke again until they were safely out of the hotel and onto the beach. It was late, and dark, but still warm enough for them to be comfortable in their slacks and button ups as they walked along the edge of the water.    
  
“I didn’t know,” Liam said after several minutes.    
  
“Yes, you did.”   
  
“No, I mean...I knew that they hurt, but I didn’t know you were still-”   
  
“They took my whole family away, Liam,” Theo said, turning to him. “They made me watch my sister die, and they killed my parents to make sure I was no one’s but theirs. Am I supposed to just get over that? Move on? I have no one!”   
  
“That’s bullshit!” Liam cried. “You have the pack, you have  _ me _ !”   
  
“It’s not the same,” Theo said. “I mean yes, it’s good, I know that, and I don’t like to think about the kind of man that I would be without the pack, but it’s not this.” He gestured back at the hotel. “It’s not a family. I don’t have cousins or parents or nieces and nephews, or happy memories because every single person that I’m close to, I, at one point, tried to kill. Do you know what that feels like?”   
  
“Um.” Liam gulped. “I...no...not really.”   
  
“There you go.” Theo said. “Just think about what it would feel like, trying to get close to someone new when you know, deep down, that you’re a killer. Or...were. It’s just...I can’t ever let someone in that doesn’t know that side of me, because it’s a part of my past and who I am and I can’t just pretend that none of it happened, and it’s not like I can date anyone in our pack because I tried to kill you all, so I’m stuck. I’m stuck, and it’s fine, it really is, because honestly, my life is a lot better than it was, but you asked why I was single, and that’s why. That’s the reason.”   
  
“Okay.”    
  
Liam didn’t know how to respond to that, because what did you say to something like that? How could he tell Theo that he was wrong, when he wasn’t? Liam couldn’t imagine having to hide a whole past from someone that he shared a bed with, that he shared a life with, and he could see why Theo was having trouble meeting someone. All that he could do was accept it, because trying to push Theo, or convince him of something that wasn’t true wouldn’t be the right path to follow.   
  
They walked along the water in silence for a while, eventually settling in to sit in the sand, looking out at the ocean, the stars and the moon reflected in the waves.    
  
“I’m sorry I reacted like that,” Theo said finally.    
  
“Like what?”   
  
“Snapped. Stormed out.”   
  
“Oh, it’s okay,” Liam said.   
  
“It’s not, though,” Theo gulped. “Because if I treat you like that, you’re gonna walk away from me, and if you do, the rest of the pack will, too, and I’ll be alone.” He paused. “I’ve been down that road. I don’t want to go down it again.”   
  
“Makes sense,” Liam said softly. “I don’t think anyone really, truly wants to be alone.”   
  
“No, I can’t imagine they would.” Theo let out a heavy sigh. “Sometimes I wish I did, though. I tried to. To want to, I mean. It just didn’t work out.”   
  
Liam reached out, putting his arm around Theo.   
  
“For what it’s worth, I’m glad it didn’t. I mean,” he shrugged. “I would be dead without you, and probably a lot of my friends would be, too, and you’re…” Liam paused, because he hadn’t said it before, but they both knew it. “You’re my anchor.”   
  
“You don’t need an anchor anymore.”   
  
“Maybe that’s true, but I  _ did _ , and you were there.” Liam gently squeezed Theo’s shoulder. “And for what it’s worth, I’m not walking away from you, Theo. You snapping at me once?” He shook his head. “It’s not enough to scare me away.”   
  
“Yeah?” Theo smiled, though his eyes were still focused out on the water before them.   
  
“Yeah.”   
  
“I shouldn’t be surprised. You always were never hard to scare, but you were impossible to scare  _ away _ .”   
  
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Liam asked, confused.    
  
“Means you’re brave,” Theo said simply. “It means that even when something scares you, you still face it head on, definitely to a fault, but still. You’re brave.”   
  
Liam didn’t say anything more, but he smiled as he, too, looked back out at the waves. Theo thought he was brave, and he wasn’t sure why that made him feel so good, but it did.


	7. Chapter Seven

When Theo woke the next morning, there was wind in his hair, and the smell of salt water filled his nose. He shifted just slightly and opened his eyes, realizing that, rather than in the comfy resort bed, he had fallen asleep outside in the sand, still wearing his slacks and button up from the night before...and he wasn’t alone.   
  
Curled up beside him in the sand, still asleep, dressed equally nicely, was Liam.    
  
Theo sighed and shook some of the sand from his legs as he sat up, knowing that he couldn’t exactly just walk away and leave Liam here, but he didn’t see the point in waking him up, either.   
  
Their talk last night had been big, and honestly,  _ his _ fault. He had been curious, he had wanted to know more about Liam’s love life, or lack thereof, than he had any right to, and when the questions had been turned on him? Well, he had snapped. He had snapped, but he had also told Liam things that he had never told anyone, things that had been eating away at him for the last ten years, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that.   
  
Liam was special. Theo had known that for a very, very long time, but Liam also had a way of getting him to admit things that he didn’t want to admit. If that kept up, one day, Liam would get him to admit his feelings - it had come dangerously close to happening last night - and then? Then things would change.    
  
Liam was hard to scare off, but Theo got the feeling that that was the one thing that could really scare him. Theo had left the door open last night for Liam, he had mentioned dating within the pack, and if Liam had had any interest, well, Theo had given him the chance to say it, and he hadn’t. If nothing else, that was the proof that Theo had needed that it was truly one sided.    
  
Of course, he had known that all along. Guys like Liam didn’t wind up with guys like Theo, guys who had hurt them, and easily could again. They ended up with good guys, and as hard as Theo tried, he was pretty sure he would never fully be one of them.   
  
Every fiber of Theo’s being was telling him to run. Everything that he knew was telling him to get his things and take a cab to the airport and go home before this all got worse. He knew that coming here had been a bad idea, he knew that it would be difficult, but he hadn’t thought about just how difficult it would be, to get so close to Liam, to pretend to be something that he wanted for real, and it hurt more than Theo had been prepared for.    
  
But he couldn’t do that to Liam. Liam had never run when it came to protecting him, and he couldn’t leave Liam high and dry here, embarrassed and alone with his family, so he reached out, shaking Liam awake.    
  
“Mmmmngh,” Liam opened one eye, and turned to Theo, a confused look on his face.   
  
“We fell asleep out here last night,” Theo said. “But we should get back and get cleaned up. It’s early, but the wedding is in just a few hours.”   
  
“Oh fuck.” Liam jumped to his feet “Yeah, we can’t show up covered in sand and looking underslept!”   
  
“You don’t look underslept,” Theo said with a laugh. “Come on, let’s just get back to the resort, get some breakfast, and get this sand off of us.”   
  
“Okay.” Liam smiled. “And look, about last night-”   
  
“It’s fine,” Theo said. “Really, we have more pressing things to think about, do we not? Like a wedding to attend? Just a few more hours, and we can go back to being Theo and Liam, friends, and nothing more.”   
  
“Yeah.” Liam bit his lip. “I’m starting to think I may have done some damage here.”   
  
Theo looked at him curiously as they walked. Did Liam realize how much he cared? Had he figured out that Theo was in love with him? Longing for him? Had he realized how much this was hurting?   
  
“Damage?”   
  
“Yeah, I mean, my family fucking loves you, at this point. It’s gonna suck to tell them we’ve broken up in a few weeks.”   
  
“Oh.”   
  
Of course that was what it was. Theo hoped that Liam wasn’t paying attention to his heart, or the way that it was beating, because he was sure it wasn’t steady. He was sure that it was anything but regular.    
  
“I mean, I’m sure they’ll be fine,” Theo said, figuring he ought to offer more than an “oh”. “They’re enjoying me now, but they don’t really know me at the end of the day. They’ll be bummed for a minute, maybe, and then move right on.”   
  
“Yeah,” Liam bit his lip. “I don’t know, I’m not so sure.”   
  
“Hey, chin up,” Theo said. “You can always tell them we stayed friends.”   
  
“That is a very good point.”    
  
Liam seemed to calm a little at that, and Theo was grateful for it, because it wasn’t fun, talking to Liam about this stuff. Theo didn’t want this to end. He didn’t want it to be fake. He didn’t want Liam’s family to think that he had broken Liam’s heart, when in actuality, it was completely the opposite happening right now. Only Liam had no idea, and Theo knew that it wasn’t fair to put that sort of thing onto the other man.    
  
“God, I can’t believe we slept on the beach,” Liam admitted as he waited for Theo to open up the door to their room.    
  
“I’m honestly surprised that you did, I mean, I can sleep anywhere. You couldn’t sleep on the plane, but you crashed out in the sand? You’re weird.”   
  
“Shut up.” Liam laughed, shoving Theo as they spilled into the room.    
  
“You can shut up, while I grab the first shower.”    
  
Theo shoved Liam back, making a run for the bathroom before the other man could get ahead of him.    
  
“Asshole!” Liam called.    
  
“Maybe!” Theo said. “But I will be an asshole that doesn’t run out of hot water!”   
  
“We are in a hotel,” Liam replied. “We aren’t gonna run out of hot water.”   
  
“Whatever you say,” Theo called back as he stripped out of his sandy clothes.    
  
“I’ll order breakfast up while you shower, what do you want?”   
  
“Uh…” Theo paused. “Just get me whatever you’re having. And coffee.”   
  
He didn’t hear Liam’s response as he stepped into the shower, the sound of the water drowning out anything that Liam might be saying, and honestly, Theo felt like he needed that.    
  
Liam was a lot to be around right now, and his scent was absolutely everywhere. It had been a very long time since Liam had been around this much, and Theo couldn’t get away from him. He had tried last night, but Liam had followed, and if they had been a real couple having a real fight, that is all that Theo would have wanted, but they weren’t, so it wasn’t.   
  
Sure, Theo wanted to wash the sand out of his hair, and a night of sleeping in formal clothes from his body, but more than that, he needed to wash away the scent of Liam on him. They had been pressed up so close on the beach as they slept, and he could smell Liam all over him, and it was killing him.    
  
Maybe if he weren’t a werewolf, this would be more bearable. Maybe if he couldn’t smell every little bit of Liam all over their room, it would be easier, and it was, perhaps, manageable most of the time, but right now, Liam was all over  _ him _ , and he couldn’t take it. He reached for the soap, scrubbing the other wolf off of him, needing to be free of it, even though he knew it would just be for the length of the shower. This time, in here, with the hot water beating down on him, was all of the time that he had to reset before the wedding, because once he got out, Liam would be everywhere again.    
  
Even now, it took all of Theo’s concentration not to pick up on the sound of Liam’s beating heart. It had been too long since they had been close, and all of Theo’s tricks to keep his feelings for Liam at bay were rusty. He had to regain his composure, and he knew that he could. This was it, just one more day, and one more night, and then he would be on a plane back to California, and Liam would be on a plane back to Boston.   
  
Less than 24 hours, and he could start putting miles between him and this crush that he just couldn’t seem to get past. He just had to make it a little longer without cracking, and he wasn’t sure why it felt like it was all coming to a head now. He had spent eight years in love with Liam, maybe longer, and it had never been a problem before, not like it was now, at any rate. Maybe Theo was getting weaker, or maybe it was the non-stop close proximity, or maybe it was the fact that he had run out of ways to deny how he felt, and pretending to have it was more than he could bear.   
  
Except it wasn’t more than he could bear, he couldn’t let it be, because he was stronger than that. He had gotten this far in life, even with everything working against him. Romantic feelings for another man wasn’t going to be what finally took him out of the game. He wouldn’t let it be.    
  
Liam was his friend, Liam was his pack, Liam needed him, and he was determined not to let Liam down.


	8. Chapter Eight

Liam managed to rally after spending the night sleeping in the sand, and by the time he was seated in one of the chairs on the beach, waiting for his cousin to walk down the aisle, he felt better. It was amazing what some eggs, bacon, and coffee could do for a man, and that, paired with a hot shower, and putting on fresh clothes had Liam feeling himself.   
  
He still had the conversation with Theo from the night before on his mind, but he didn’t want to broach it right now. They had other things to focus on, and it didn’t seem like Theo wanted to talk about it more than they already had. Sometimes, Liam was foolish, and brash, and too pushy, but as he grew, he had learned that, sometimes, you just had to leave well enough alone, and this was one of those times.    
  
“You look nice,” he said instead, as he and Theo waited for the wedding to begin.   
  
“Thanks, so do you,” Theo said, returning his smile.    
  
“Are you nervous?”    
  
“A little,” Theo admitted. “I have been to exactly one wedding, and it was Mason and Corey’s.”   
  
“Relax.” Liam reached out, taking Theo’s hand. After all, they were surrounded by family, and they were fronting a relationship. Why shouldn’t he take his “boyfriend’s” hand? “Just stand up when everyone else does, and don’t laugh or sneeze during the vows.”   
  
“Why would you say that?” Theo asked. “Why would you put that into my head? Now all I’m gonna think about is how much I want to laugh!”   
  
“Shit, sorry.”   
  
“Hey, if I go down, I’m dragging you with me.”   
  
“You wouldn’t dare.”   
  
“Wouldn’t I?”    
  
Theo shot Liam a quizzical look, eyebrow raised, and Liam felt as though testing him would be a poor choice. He knew Theo well enough to know that Theo was unpredictable, and had a knack for both preserving and protecting people, and dragging them down to his level when it suited him. He had an incredible poker face, and Liam couldn’t get a read on his heartbeat.   
  
“Just try not to laugh,” Liam said.    
  
“Okay.”   
  
“Oh, shh, it’s starting.”   
  
The music began, and without really meaning to, Liam squeezed Theo’s hand as he stood along with everyone else. Grace walked down the aisle first, followed by Michelle, and by the time they were standing under the flowered arch, holding hands and looking at each other, Liam felt an aching in his chest that he didn’t understand.   
  
He had seen Michelle and Grace together a thousand times. He had seen them hold hands, and kiss, and say romantic things to each other, and cuddle, but seeing them up there now, Michelle in her flowing gown, and Grace in her sleek suit, it was different. He wasn’t sure that he had ever seen them look at each other the way that they were looking at each other now - so in love, so ready to commit to each other for the rest of their lives, and Liam? He felt foolish.   
  
To him, this had been nothing more than something he just had to get through. He had even asked one of his friends to come with him as a fake date because he didn’t want to be caught up in a lie, but was that it? Had he not wanted that, or had he simply not wanted to be alone for once?   
  
It had been so long since he had looked at someone like that, and honestly, he wasn’t sure if he ever had. Had he loved Hayden? Absolutely. Would he have fought and died for her? Without question. There was nothing about their relationship that felt like puppy love to him, it was the real thing, but at the same time, they had been teenagers. Their love had not been allowed to grow and mature the way that Grace and Michelle’s had. They hadn’t been in this place, and as a result, Liam had never felt this way about anyone. He had never been in an adult relationship, and that had been fine with him, until now.   
  
Or at least that was what he had told himself.    
  
“Dude, are you  _ crying _ ?” Theo whispered just as the officiant got started.   
  
“Shut up,” Liam said, pulling his hand from Theo’s and swiping at his eyes.   
  
He wasn’t crying, not really, just tearing up a little. Yes, he was happy for his cousin, and he was happy for Grace, but just as much as that, he was feeling a strong sense of longing for something that he didn’t have, something that he might never have. He had put love on the back burner for so long that he wasn’t sure how to move it to the forefront. He had told himself that he didn’t want this, or that he had plenty of time to find it, and maybe he did, but this? This hit differently.   
  
When it had been Mason and Corey getting married, he hadn’t been sitting down, watching it all happen. He had been standing up there as Mason’s best man, and yes, it had been beautiful, but that had been three years ago. He hadn’t felt old enough for it, he hadn’t really been sure that Mason and Corey were old enough for it, but they had been together for seven years by that point, and they knew.    
  
Liam? He didn’t know anything.   
  
Before he really realized what was happening, the wedding was over, and everyone had been swept to the reception area - a roped off part of the beach with tables, a dinner buffet, and of course, a DJ, and a temporary dance floor.    
  
It was a casual reception to a degree, but everything was done to the absolute best. The place settings were flawless, the flowers were the best money could buy, the drinks were top shelf, the food was out of this world, and the DJ knew what she was doing.    
  
Liam focused on that, piling his plate high with fried rice, Kahl ú a pork, and steamed vegetables, leaning back in his chair, watching his family with a smile on his face.    
  
“Having a good time?” Theo asked, an equally filled plate in front of him.    
  
“Yeah.” Liam nodded. “I am.”   
  
“So are we gonna talk about the fact that you cried at the ceremony?”   
  
“Nope.” Liam shook his head. “We absolutely are not.”   
  
“Okay.” Theo smiled at him. “I’ll let you have this one, just because this food is so good that it is pulling focus from picking on you.”   
  
“Wow.” Liam looked at Theo in surprise. “I mean, I knew the food was good, but I didn’t know that  _ any _ food was  _ that _ good!”   
  
“Well, now you know. If you want to shut me up, all you have to do is bring me to Hawaii, and shell out for the best fucking pork in the world.”   
  
“I’ll make a mental note.”    
  
Liam set his fork down just long enough to elbow Theo in the arm...and receive one in return. It seemed to Liam that whatever tension had come over them last night had evaporated, and everything felt good again. He made a mental note not about the pork, but about the fact that talking to Theo about relationships was sensitive subject matter, and he couldn’t just dive in like that.    
  
Theo was more sensitive than he let on, and sometimes, Liam let himself forget that. With Theo’s tough guy attitude, sometimes it was difficult to remember that there was a hurt, and emotional person behind the stories of walls that Theo put up.   
  
Tonight, it was best to keep it light, eat good food, dance and hang with his family, and then he could go back to Boston, and have tons of time to think about how to talk to Theo about the things that were clearly still hurting him after all of these years. He would be a terrible friend if he just let it go, but this wasn’t the time or the place, and he knew it.   
  
“Theeeeeeeo!” Alexa walked up to their table. “Will you dance with me?” She paused. “Sorry, Liam.”   
  
Theo laughed, and set his fork down, wiping his mouth before standing up and taking Alexa’s hand.    
  
“I most certainly will.”   
  
“You crazy kids have fun!” Liam called, a smile on his face as he watched Alexa practically drag Theo onto the dance floor.    
  
The height difference was comical, but Liam couldn’t take his eyes away from the sight of Theo fucking Raeken letting a little girl stand on his feet to dance. Alexa was laughing, Theo was smiling, and honestly, Liam felt good. Really good.    
  
Liam had always wanted someone that would be good with his family. He wanted someone that could handle his anger and help him manage it, and as he grew up, he had wanted someone that could handle the fact that he was a werewolf, and that sometimes he needed his space, and that sometimes he needed to nerd about random points in history that no one else found fascinating.   
  
Maybe, just maybe, he had made a mistake, and what he had been looking for had been some version of right in front of him all along.   


As the song changed, Liam stood up, his plate of food forgotten, and walked towards the dance floor.    
  
“Hey, Alexa,” he said, putting his hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Mind if cut in?”   
  
“Huh?” She looked up at him, confused.    
  
“Do you mind if I steal your dance partner for a song or two?” He clarified.   
  
“Oh.” She wrinkled her nose, clearly thinking about it. “I guess you can, but you have to give him back later.”   
  
“I will.” Liam grinned. “And hey, maybe I’ll grab you for a dance myself.”   
  
“Okay.”    
  
Alexa stepped off of Theo’s feet and scampered off to go find something to eat. Liam moved in, putting his hand on Theo’s waist, taking his other hand in his own.    
  
“Man, you’re really selling it,” Theo said, beginning to sway to the music with Liam.    
  
“Hey, what can I say?” Liam said with a shrug. “It’s what’s expected of us.”   
  
And yes, it was, but at the same time, something was different. Liam wondered if Theo could hear the way that his heart was beating as he moved a little closer to him. He knew that they were surrounded by people, but at the same time, it felt like it was just the two of them, and everything that he had been questioning the last few minutes felt like it was beginning to come into focus.   
  
“Oh, shit! How are we already out of glasses?!”    
  
Grace’s words broke the spell, and Liam came to as Theo pulled back from him.    
  
“It’s fine,” Theo said. “I’ll go ask the front desk for some!”   
  
And before Liam knew it, Theo was out of his arms, and heading up the beach, towards the resort.


	9. Chapter Nine

Theo felt like he was suffocating.    
  
Dancing with Alexa was one thing. She was 8, and she was adorable, and she was leading as much as he was, and it didn’t matter. She was just a person that he would never see again after tonight, and it was fine. But then Liam had had to go and cut in, and move close to him, and put his hand on his waist, and look at him with that stupid face, and that stupid smile, and Theo had felt like he was going to break.    
  
If Grace hadn’t sworn so loudly about glasses, Theo was sure that he would have done something that he regretted, something that he wouldn’t be able to take back or explain, and he was glad, so glad for the opportunity to pull away from it all.    
  
Hell, he was out of the reception area and halfway to the resort before he felt like he even knew what he was doing, but he had had to get out of there. Even now, as he walked up the beach, Liam’s scent was, once again, all over him, and Theo knew that he had to get out of that headspace.    
  
He marched into the resort, shoulders back, all poise and confidence, as he always was, but at the same time, he felt like he was on fire, and he needed someone to put him out.    
  
“Hi,” he walked up to the front desk. “I’m with the Dunbar/Miller wedding, and I don’t know what’s wrong with us as a group, but we ran through all of the glasses that were with the reception stuff already, and I was wondering if maybe we could get some more sent down?”   
  
“Oh!” The young woman at the desk straightened up a little as he approached, and touched her hair, smiling, and Theo?   
  
He worked in bars. He knew a signal when he saw one.   
  
“Yeah, of course we can do that, let me just make a quick call and get those sent down for you all.”   
  
“Thanks.” Theo winked at her, but didn’t leave.    
  
He felt like he was choking on Liam, but here was this young woman, clearly interested, and just right  _ there _ . He wouldn’t do anything, just a little flirting to clear his head, to get Liam out of it, just for a few minutes, so that he could go back to the wedding, and play the part of the loyal boyfriend just convincingly enough to fool Liam’s family, but not so convincingly that he gave himself away to Liam. It was a delicate balance, and this? This might be just what Theo needed to get through this final push of time before he was on his way back to California.   
  
Alone.   
  
“Can I get anything else for you?” She asked.    
  
“Oh, um, no,” Theo shook his head. “Truth be told -” he paused to read the name on her name tag. “Katie, I just needed to get away from the wedding party for a hot minute. It’s been chaos all weekend, and I mean, it’s a great group of people, but they can be a lot.”   
  
“Well,” Katie leaned in towards him. “You are welcome to kill some time here, if you want.”   
  
“I would love that.” Theo smiled. “How long have you been working here, Katie?”   
  
“About two years now.”   
  
“You get a lot of weddings in here?”   
  
“Oh, all the time.” She nodded. “We have a great wedding package. Are you interested?”   
  
“Mmm, maybe.” Theo shrugged. “Oh, you meant in the wedding package.”   
  
She laughed, and Theo had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. This was too easy. He could say just about anything he wanted, and she was going to eat it up, and it was annoying, and not his speed at all, but it was better than being on the dance floor, pressed up against the man he loved, with absolutely no way of handling it in an effective manner.   
  
“Oh my god, stop,” she said, reaching out and pushing his shoulder lightly, and in a manner that conveyed that she actually wanted him to do just about anything  _ but _ stop.   
  
“Sorry, was that cheesy?” Theo wrinkled his nose.    
  
“No, no, it was cute,” she said quickly. “It was cute.”   
  
“Oh, good.” Theo chuckled and put his hand on the counter right next to hers, nudging her fingers with his.    
  
“Yeah, I mean, you’re cute,” she giggled.    
  
“Oh yeah?” Theo tilted his head to the side. “I guess you’re not so bad yourself, I-”   
  
“What the hell?”    
  
Theo turned, his breath catching in his throat as he saw Liam standing behind them.    
  
“Oh shit.” Theo gulped.    
  
“Who’s that?” Katie asked, confused.    
  
“Um, sort of my…” God, did it matter if he told the truth to this random girl, or if she was in on the lie? She was just resort staff, she couldn’t ruin this for them, right?    
  
“I didn’t know you had a “sort of” anything!” she pulled her hand back. “I’m sorry!” she called to Liam. “I didn’t know!”   
  
Liam didn’t say anything to her, he just walked up to Theo with a look in his eye that Theo had not seen in a long time.   
  
“You. Outside.  _ Now. _ ”   
  
Theo didn’t make a move to stop him as Liam grabbed him by the wrist, dragging him out of the resort and down the beach, away from where the wedding reception was being held. Once they had gotten to what Theo could only assume was a distance Liam dubbed safe enough, the younger man turned on him.    
  
“What the  _ hell _ was that?”   
  
“I don’t know!” Theo shrugged. “Flirting?”   
  
“You’re  _ my _ date!” Liam shouted.   
  
“It’s fake!” Theo yelled back.    
  
“Not to my family! Someone could have seen you, and do you know how that would have made us look? How it would have made  _ me _ look? I asked you for one thing, Theo.  _ One  _ thing, and honestly, if it’s too much for you to go two days without flirting with some random girl, you could have just said no!”   
  
Theo felt his blood boiling. He understood that Liam was angry, and yes, he understood why, to a degree, but at the same time, Liam didn’t know what he was doing to Theo. He didn’t know that Theo had needed to flirt, that he had needed to get someone else on his mind for a few minutes, someone other than Liam, or he was going to go crazy; he was going to snap. How did he explain that to Liam, though, without making this situation a million times worse?   
  
“I tried!” He shot back, throwing his arms in the air in frustration. “When you called, I tried to say no, and you needled, and needled!”   
  
“Oh you did not!”   
  
“I told you it was a bad idea! Multiple times, and you wouldn’t let it go!”   
  
“I thought you were full of shit! You wouldn’t tell me  _ why _ it was a bad idea!”   
  
Liam was practically screaming now, and the noise, and the feelings were just too much for Theo. He didn’t know what was going on, or what to do about it. He knew that Liam was screaming at him, that Liam was angry, and that when Liam was angry, Theo was usually the person to calm him down.   
  
It had been so long since Theo had been the source of Liam’s anger, and it felt terrible. He wanted to make it stop. He wanted to help calm him down, but he also wanted to run. He wanted to turn, and take off down the beach until he was so far away that he couldn’t hear Liam’s heart racing, couldn’t smell him, see him, or feel his presence.    
  
“I couldn’t!”   
  
“What, you couldn’t tell me that you couldn’t go 48 hours without flirting with a stranger?” Liam snarled.    
  
Theo squeezed his eyes shut, but that didn’t help anything. He couldn’t see Liam, but he could feel him, he could smell him, and he knew that he was there. He could always tell when Liam was close, and for awhile, he had thought it was because Liam had been the one to bring him back, but as he grew up, he had learned, albeit slowly, that it was so much more than that.   
  
“No!” Theo opened his eyes, staring Liam down. “It was a bad idea, because I knew that being your fake boyfriend would be torture, because it’s not fucking fake to me, I  _ love  _ you!”   
  
The words left Theo’s mouth on impulse, without him meaning to let them out. He reached a hand out, foolish enough to think that he might be able to take them back. He had said them, and he couldn’t backpedal, because Liam would be able to tell that he was lying if he did.   
  
He had done the last thing that he had ever meant to. He had shared his feelings with Liam, and now he was going to have to deal with the consequences. He was ruining everything, just like he always did, and there was nothing that he could do about it now.   
  
Nothing except for to turn and run, so that was exactly what he did.   



	10. Chapter Ten

Theo’s words hit Liam like a ton of bricks, and by the time he had even come close to processing them, Theo was running away from him at breakneck pace, and Liam wasn’t even sure he had heard him correctly. Everything that had just happened had completely knocked the wind out of him, and now he was standing here without a clue of what to do.    
  
Theo had been missing from the reception for longer than expected, and the glasses had turned up, and he hadn’t, so Liam had gone to look for him. He hadn’t counted on the intense wave of jealousy that had washed over him when he had seen Theo clearly flirting with someone else, and he couldn’t help the anger that rose in him as he yanked Theo away from her.   
  
He played it off as anger that Theo was making him look bad, but he was smart enough, and he knew himself well enough, to know that it had nothing to do with that, and everything to do with the fact that Theo had felt so right in his arms just minutes before. Hell, maybe Theo had felt right in his arms for years, and he just hadn’t really realized what that meant until now, until Theo was screaming it in his face, and then running away from him.   
  
But Theo was in love with him, and Liam? Liam didn’t think he could handle anything, so he sat down in the sand, right where he was, and processed. He wasn’t sure how long it took him, just sitting there, thinking things through, but his mind flooded with memories of Theo taking care of him, of Theo making sure that he had what he needed to stay calm. He remembered Theo saving his life time and time again. He remembered how many times he had gone to Theo when he needed something, or someone, and just how long he had pushed aside why he felt so comfortable with the other man.    
  
He remembered Theo dragging him back into the elevator after saying that he would only ever use Liam as bait. He remembered Theo talking him from a ledge at the zoo, keeping him from killing Nolan, and then later at the high school, from killing Gabe in the bathroom. He remembered Theo fighting by his side again and again when he had said he wouldn’t. He remembered Theo anchoring him over and over, when Liam hadn’t understood why.    
  
He understood now.   
  
Theo wasn’t always the person that he turned to for everything - he had Mason, and he had Scott, but Theo was the person that he went to when he felt helpless, Theo was the person he went to when he needed to feel stronger, when he needed to feel better about himself. Theo was the person that  _ made  _ him better, and that meant something. It meant a lot of things, probably.   
  
Even when he had insisted that he wouldn’t be, Theo had always been there for Liam.    
  
Theo loved him, and the more Liam thought about it, the clearer it seemed.    
  
Liam loved Theo, too.    
  
He loved him, and he had put them both in this position of pretending to be together, because he hadn’t been able to figure out his shit. The reason that he hadn’t put a ton of time and energy into dating? He already had someone that he loved, he just didn’t know it, and now that he did, he couldn’t just sit here in the sand and act like it was nothing.    
  
With a heavy sigh, Liam pulled himself to his feet, and darted back to the reception. He found Michelle, and kissed her on the cheek.    
  
“I’m so sorry, Michelle, but Theo and I had a fight, and he bolted, and I have to go after him, because as it turns out, I’m in love with him.”   
  
“Tell me something I don’t know!” Michelle called after him as Liam, who hadn’t waited for a reply, turned, running off down the beach in the same direction that Theo had taken off in.   
  
Liam was fast. He was faster than Theo, and in a foot race, he knew that he would beat him, but Theo had a large head start. That didn’t stop Liam, as he tore across the beach, calling his name. Theo would hear him, he had to. There was no way that he had just started running and never stopped. At some point, Liam had to catch up.   
  
That, however, did not seem to be the case. He ran himself ragged, turning back in case he had missed him, and wound up back at the resort, feeling dejected and confused. They had both left their phones in their rooms so they wouldn’t have any distractions at the wedding, but Liam wasn’t sure who he would have called even if he had it.   
  
“Theo?” He called when he keyed into the room, just in case the other man had found his way back here.   
  
And he had.    
  
When Liam turned the lights on in the room, it didn’t take him long at all to realize that Theo’s things were gone. By chasing him down the beach, Liam had gone the wrong direction. Theo hadn’t run forever on the sand, he had come back here, packed up his things, and left.    
  
Liam grabbed his phone and called Theo, but of course, it went right to voicemail. With a frustrated groan, he found his wallet, and tore down to the front desk.   
  
“You,” he said, looking at Katie. “That guy you were flirting with earlier, did he go somewhere?”   
  
“He asked for a car to the airport,” she said with a shrug. “Look, I really am sorry, I didn’t know that he had a boyfriend, he didn’t tell me.”   
  
“It’s fine,” Liam said, because he didn’t have the time or the energy to try and explain any of what he was thinking or feeling right now. “Look, can you call me a car to the airport, please?” he asked. “As soon as possible, it’s urgent.”   
  
“Yeah, okay.” She didn’t bother fighting, she just got on the phone and made the call.    
  
While Liam waited, he opened up his phone, going to the airline webpage and looking to see if there was even a flight to California leaving tonight..and sure enough, there was. One late night flight, leaving in just under two hours. If Theo was planning to be on that flight, Liam didn’t have much time.   
  
With really no forethought at all, Liam purchased a ticket on the same flight, because he knew there was no way to get past security without a ticket, and with the close timing, there was a strong chance that, by the time he got to the gate, Theo would have boarded already...if Liam made it at all, which, frankly, was a big if.   
  
Two hours wasn’t a lot of time when it came to dealing with an airport.   
  
In the car on the way to the airport, Liam called Theo four more times. This time, his calls didn’t go straight to voicemail, they rang before it, and Liam sighed.    
  
“Theo,” he said into Theo’s voicemail. “Don’t get on a plane, okay? I’m on my way to the airport, I need to talk to you. Don’t. Get. On. The. Plane.”   
  
He sighed, hanging up, jiggling his leg as he typed out a text bearing the same message, just in case Theo was looking at his texts, but not checking his voicemails. He watched his screen for a moment, hoping for the little grey dots to tell him that Theo was typing back, but there was nothing past the “delivered” notification showed up on the screen.   
  
“Fuck.” Liam groaned, leaning back in the seat. “Is there any way you can go any faster?” he asked, his heart racing.   
  
“Sorry, kid,” the driver said. “This is the limit, and I don’t wanna lose my license.”   
  
“No, that’s...it’s fine.”   
  
And it was. Liam didn’t want to ruin anyone’s job, but he also worried about what would happen if he missed the flight. He didn’t want to tell Theo that he loved him over the phone, but he also didn’t want Theo to have an entire plane ride with just his thoughts, convincing himself again and again that Liam didn’t care about him that same way.    
  
Everything made sense now, in a horrible way - why Theo was single, why he had said it was such a bad idea for them to pretend to be boyfriends, why Liam had been so adamant on doing this. Had his subconscious been aware of this all along and refused to inform him? Had a piece of him known all this time that he wanted Theo, and just shut it down before it even reached the forefront of his mind?   
  
It felt like forever before the car stopped in front of the airport.    
  
“Good luck finding ‘em, kid” the driver said as Liam shot out of the back door.    
  
“Thank you!” he called. “I’ll tip later, I promise!”   
  
He darted through the airport, having checked into his flight online the second he had bought the ticket, and headed for security. With no baggage, this would be faster, and it was a late night flight, so there weren’t as many people, but that also meant there weren’t as many employees. The security area was down to one line, and Liam was growing more and more impatient by the moment.    
  
**I’m here. I’m in the security line. I’m coming. Please don’t get on the plane!** **  
** **  
** Once again, his text was delivered, but not replied to, and Liam felt his chest growing tighter with every second. The drive from the resort had eaten up a lot of time, and he knew that they closed the door at least 15 minutes before the flight was set to depart. If he ran, he might make it.   
  
Maybe.   
  
Once he was through, he bolted towards the gate as fast as he could, ignoring everyone watching him. He knew that he was fast, but right now, he didn’t care if that speed appeared super human. He  _ had _ to get to the gate before the plane left.    
  
He rushed to the gate desk, waving his phone with the boarding pass up. “I’m here!” he called out to the ticketing agent. “I’m here!”   
  
“I’m sorry,” the woman said, shaking her head. “We closed the doors three minutes ago, it’s too late.”   
  
“No. No, no, it can’t be.”   
  
“I’m so sorry, but if you stick around, I’ll help you get booked on the next flight out as soon as possible.”   
  
“No, it has to be this one,” Liam insisted. “It has to be! They can...they can open the doors again, they have to!”   
  
“I’m sorry, but they can’t,” the woman said, taking a slight step back, looking as though she was trying to gauge just how much of a problem Liam was about to be.    
  
“No, but they have to!” Liam cried, tears welling in his eyes. “The love of my life is on that plane, only he doesn’t know that he’s the love of my life because I’m a fucking idiot and took ten fucking years to realize it, and then didn’t say anything when he confessed to me because I was stunned, and I’m already ten years too late, I can’t be ten minutes too late, too! Please, you have to let me on! He can’t go another eight hours thinking that I don’t care, he doesn’t deserve that!”   
  
“I’m sorry, sir, but I just can’t-”   
  
“Love of your life, huh?”   
  
Liam whipped around, and there, standing behind him, was Theo Raeken.   



	11. Chapter Eleven

“Theo.”   
  
Liam stood there, out of breath, with tears in his eyes, and Theo wasn’t sure that he had ever wanted to see anyone more. Liam walked towards him, but Theo couldn’t move, he was rooted to the spot.    
  
He couldn’t take Liam’s calls. After confessing what he had, he was too afraid to hear rejection, he was too scared to have Liam tell him that he didn’t feel the same way, that they were just friends. The voicemails and the texts begging him not to leave? He had convinced himself that that was all Liam covering his bases, protecting the friendship. If Liam loved him, he would have said it by now, or shown it, Theo was sure of that, so it had to be.   
  
And yet he hadn’t gotten on the plane. When they called his boarding group, he looked at his phone screen, at the texts from Liam begging him to wait, and he had waited. Theo had spent his entire life running from every bad thing, trying to avoid getting hurt, but just because he didn’t face something head on didn’t have a history of meaning it wasn’t painful, so maybe, just this once, he could face it head on.   
  
He had stood when Liam had come running up to the gate, but hung back as Liam begged them to open the doors, listening as Liam spilled his heart out to the ticketing agent, telling her that he loved Theo, and that?   
  
That changed everything.    
  
“Liam,” Theo replied as Liam drew closer.   
  
“You didn’t get on the plane,” Liam said softly.    
  
“I’m the love of your life?”   
  
“I…” Liam reached up, swiping a tear from his eye. “Apparently.”   
  
“Apparently?”   
  
“It took me a stupid long time to realize it,” Liam admitted. “I was just starting to, today, with everything, and on the dance floor, you were so close, and I realized how much I wanted you even closer, and then you ran off to get the glasses, and…” He shrugged. “I saw you flirting and thought I had totally missed my chance.”   
  
“You didn’t miss your chance,” Theo said softly.    
  
He reached up, putting his hand on Liam’s cheek, looking into his blue eyes as he pulled Liam’s gaze to meet his own. Liam was so beautiful, and while Theo wished away the tears in his eyes, a part of him was glad that Liam cared that much. The fact that he was crying over the thought of letting Theo get on that flight without telling him how he felt showed Theo that it was true, that it was real. That Liam loved him.   
  
No one had ever loved him, not since he was a small child, and he had ruined everything by letting evil and darkness overtake him. He was unlovable, he had been so sure of it, but here, standing in front of him, was one of the best people that he knew, telling him that they did, and it wasn’t just anyone. It was Liam.   
  
Theo believed Liam.   
  
“I don’t know why, or what it is about you,” Theo said softly. “But I think you have about a million chances with me. I don’t want anyone else. I’ve never wanted anyone else.”   
  
And sure, there had been people here and there, but no one for more than a night, and none of them anything other than a distraction. It had always been Liam.   
  
“I’m sorry,” Liam replied. “I’m sorry that it took me so long, I’m sorry I’m late, I’m sorry that I put you through all of that, I’m sorry-”   
  
“Oh shut up.”    
  
Theo leaned down, kissing Liam deeply, pulling him in close. He wrapped his free arm around the other man’s waist, resting his hand on Liam’s lower back as he kissed him with a passion that he had never kissed anyone with before.    
  
Liam returned the kiss, and Theo had never felt quite as relieved as he did in that moment. He had wanted Liam for so long, and he had held back for so long that he could hardly believe that this was happening, but here was proof. Liam could say anything he wanted, but the way that he was kissing Theo right now was nothing like how Theo had ever been kissed in his entire life. He could feel it throughout his whole body,    
  
After a while, Liam pulled back, looking up at Theo.    
  
“Feel free to shut me up like that any time you wa-”   
  
Theo didn’t even let Liam finish before diving back in, kissing him, if possible, with even more passion than the last time. He was deaf to the whispers, and even the applause from the ticketing agent, that were going on around them. All that mattered was that Liam was here, in his arms, kissing him back in the middle of the night, in the middle of an airport.   
  
“I’m sorry, too,” Theo said finally, as they pulled back again. “For running away, for causing drama at the wedding.”   
  
“What wedding?” Liam asked, looking up at Theo, clearly a little dazed from the kiss.    
  
“Your cousin’s wedding?” Theo asked, confused.    
  
“Oh, yeah, right, that.” Liam shrugged. “It’s fine, it doesn’t matter. We were there for the important bits.”   
  
“We should get back to the resort, we should be at the farewell breakfast tomorrow.”   
  
“Yeah?”    
  
“Yeah.”   
  
“Okay.”   
  
Theo took Liam’s hand, leading him away from the gate.    
  
“Oh my god, what about your bags?” Liam asked.    
  
“They’re on their way to California, I guess,” Theo said with a laugh and a shrug. “It’s just clothes.”    
  
“You can borrow some of mine,” Liam promised.    
  
***   
  
By the time they got back to the resort, back to their rooms, they only had a few hours left before they had to be up and at the farewell breakfast, and then back to the airport to return to their respective cities.    
  
They should have slept, but instead, they fell into the bed, a tangle of arms and legs, kissing until they were both too tired to move, and instead, rested against each other.    
  
“What do we do?” Liam asked softly.    
  
“What do you mean what do we do?” Theo drew Liam in close.   
  
“I mean, tomorrow, or, today, I guess. I go back to my life Boston, you go back to your life in California?”   
  
“You know,” Theo said with a smile, reaching up, toying with Liam’s hair as he spoke. “I’m pretty sure they have bars in Boston.”   
  
“Yeah?” Liam turned, just enough to look up at Theo, his chin now resting on - or rather digging into - Theo’s chest where his head had previously been resting.   
  
“Yeah.” Theo paused. “I mean, if you want me-”   
  
“I want you to,” Liam said before Theo could even finish. “I plan to spend the rest of my life making sure that you never spend another day doubting whether or not I want you. It’s the least I can do, after spending the last decade with my head up my ass.”   
  
“Decade, huh?” Theo nuzzled Liam’s nose. “See, for me, it’s only been about the last eight years.”   
  
“Does it matter who’s been stupid longer?”   
  
“Oh, you’ve been stupid longer,” Theo said. “There’s no doubt about that.”   
  
“Shut up.” Liam laughed.    
  
“Man, my shutting you up tactics are way better than yours.”   
  
“Remind me what they are again?” Liam smirked. “Cause I forg-”   
  
True to form, Theo leaned in, kissing Liam once again. He was exhausted, and every ounce of his body was screaming for sleep, but his heart just wanted to hold this man close and look him in the eyes, tell him that he loved him, and kiss him.    
  
Theo didn’t want to go to sleep, because a part of him was afraid that when he woke up, this would all be a dream. He had wanted this for so long, and the fact that he had it, that Liam could love someone like him, want someone like him? A part of him couldn’t believe that it was actually happening...except he could see Liam in the bed with him, he could feel Liam’s skin on his own, he could taste Liam’s lips, and hear his heartbeat, and smell his scent all over the both of them.   
  
If this  _ was _ a dream, he had never had one so vivid.   



	12. Epilogue

**THREE YEARS LATER** **  
** **  
** “You’re nervous,” Liam smiled up at Theo. “I can hear it.”   
  
“I’m fine.”   
  
“Hey,” Liam reached up, straightening Theo’s tie. “It’s okay to be nervous.”   
  
“ _ You  _ aren’t.”   
  
“I used up all my nervous when I proposed,” Liam countered.    
  
“I love you,” Theo whispered.    
  
“Oh thank god,” Liam said. “If you didn’t, today would be  _ super _ awkward.”   
  
“Hey, I mean it,” Theo said. “I mean, I know you know, and I know you love me, but I just...I never thought I would do this.”   
  
“What, get married on a beach in Hawaii?”   
  
“Get married  _ anywhere. _ Fall in love, or at least not a reciprocated love. I thought I had done too much wrong. I didn’t think I got to have this.”   
  
“You do.” Liam reached up, gently touching Theo’s cheek. “You get to have this, you  _ deserve _ to have this, okay? I wouldn’t want this with anyone else? We’ve had our fair share of terrible, you more than anyone. We get to have a good life together now, okay? There are people out there, waiting for us. People who love you, It’s not just me. It’s our friends, and my entire family, and they’re here because they want us to have this. Because they support  _ us _ . Together. Because they’re accepting you into the family. You’re mine. You’re theirs. You’re one of us, okay? You are loved. Forever.”   
  
“Yeah.” Theo gulped, nodding.    
  
“I’m not gonna change my mind.”   
  
“I’m not going to, either,” Theo said firmly.   
  
“Then what do you say we go get out there, get married, and then party.”   
  
“One more thing, first.” Theo leaned in, kissing Liam long and deep. “There,” he said with a smile. “Just wanted one last kiss before you were my ex boyfriend.”   
  
“Nope.” Liam shook his head. “That is not how you’re going to tell people we’re married.”   
  
“Oh, absolutely it is. This is my ex-boyfriend, Liam!”   
  
“I hate you,” Liam laughed, though it was clear there was no truth to the words.   
  
“Yeah, I hate you, too.” Theo nudged him. “Let’s go make it official.”   
  
Liam slipped his hand into Theo’s, and they walked out of the room, heading towards the beach, where three years ago, they had realized, truly and fully, that they were in love. Where this afternoon, they were finally, after thirteen years of dancing around each other, getting married.


End file.
